A South Korean appeals court yesterday reversed a lower court’s ruling and found main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung not guilty of contravening election laws, removing a barrier that could have blocked him from running for president.
Following the ruling, Lee said the decision by the Seoul High Court completely vindicated him and proved the case was politically motivated.
“It is truly outrageous that all this energy and national resources were spent for what is an obvious outcome,” he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Lee was handed a one-year prison term suspended for two years by the Seoul Central District Court last year, a penalty that if it had been upheld would have jeopardized his bid to run in the next presidential election.
The appeals court reversed the earlier ruling that had found Lee guilty of making a false claim during a parliamentary audit in 2021 while running as a presidential candidate about a land development project in Seongnam, where he served as mayor.
The court cases have shone a spotlight on Lee since opinion polls show he is the front-runner to replace South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol if the embattled leader’s impeachment is upheld.
The nation is to hold a snap election within 60 days if the South Korean Constitutional Court upholds the impeachment of Yoon over his short-lived declaration of martial law in December last year.
The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party is regarded as by far the top contender for the next presidential election, but faces legal challenges.
It was unclear if the prosecution would decide to appeal yesterday’s decision at the South Korean Supreme Court.
In addition to the election law case, Lee also faces several other trials on matters ranging from alleged bribery to charges mostly linked to a US$1 billion property development scandal.
In South Korea, if lawmakers are convicted of breaches of election laws and fined more than 1 million won (US$683), or even a suspended sentence and the conviction becomes finalized, they are barred from running for elections for at least five years and stripped of their parliament seat.
Lee, 61, ran against Yoon in the 2022 presidential election and lost by the slimmest margin in history.
Last year, he survived a knife attack when he was stabbed in the neck by a man during an event and underwent surgery.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
RSS